Musically speaking - Atlanta, Georgia is likely best known for Hip Hop music. Artists such as Lil Jon, TI ,Ludacris, Ying Yang Twins and Young Jeezy have shaped the music scene of the city since the 1990's. These groups can all be traced back to roots in the ATL and have developed quite a large following internationally.

Hip Hop music in Atlanta is certainly not the only scene that can be appreciated. There is music from all genres that can be heard throughout the city. With the city arguably the center of the south - music inspired from southern life (country) is also very popular. The music in Atlanta is as diverse and culturally important as the residents of this great city and there is certainly a lot to discuss.

Read more >

Justin Bieber is still hot and getting hotter. Hotter than Lady Gaga, who is very hot? You Tube reports that "Baby" tops "Bad Romance," that the Justin Bieber has beat out Lady Gaga.

Mr Bieber music video, "Baby," with more than 246 million views, is the most-watched video ever on YouTube. It has scooted passed Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," is more that than 600,000 views. ahead.

According to the Associated Press, Justin Bieber tweeted a thank you to "Beliebers" and said the video's success was "crazy." The singer wrote: "I started on youtube so ... WOW!"

Read more >

There was once a time when video games were synonymous with shrill, simple, hopelessly computerized music that was almost impossible to take seriously. As hardware improved and development budgets ballooned, music became an essential part of the gameplay experience. No longer are games plagued with irritating MIDI sounds (unless it's an ironic throwback) and now the songs accompanying us on our electronic adventures are worth listening to on their own.

Read more >

The Welcome Wagon

Welcome to the Welcome Wagon

(Asthamtic Kitty, 2008)

Made up primarily of Reverend Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife Monique amongst various collaborators like Sufjan Stevens, The Welcome Wagon differs greatly from what might be expected from a short glance at the album cover.

All those initially expecting simple country and folk tinged songs of salvation are going to be surprised – not necessarily disappointed, but judging from the Reverends attire, a horn section was not to be presupposed. Even including those horn players, this slab is really just a solid indie outing with overt religious connotations.

First appearing on the Asthamtic Kitty compilation To Spirit Back the Mews in 2001, W.W. continued writing simplistic songs, mostly based upon its devotion, but tossing in a few covers sporadically. The music on Welcome to the Welcome Wagon can be considered folk based, but with a vastly expanded orchestration and a cache of musicians to assist the duo. Sufjan Stevens arranged a great deal of music to help W.W. perfectly express its bright and optimistic music.

Variety might be a bit lacking – a great many of the songs are in a similar tempo and utilize choirs to get the chorus across. That isn’t meant to disparage the album’s tact and push to remain cohesive, but when “Jesus” kicks into the chorus, the album moves from a pretty album, to an almost transcendental clutch of worship music. The Velvet Underground cover amidst an disc specifically designed to pay respect to G-d takes on a greater overall meaning.

Lou Reed and the Velvets were known for their associations and personal proclivities as much as their music. Alotta stories that get passed around about substance intake and the like is hyperbole to an extent, but the cultural import of the band is stuck to those rumors. The inclusion of “Jesus,” should remove doubt by you secular music fans about the quality and the intent of this disc. Music should make you feel something – good or bad, it’s there to provoke emotions. And this group of Brooklyn Presbyterians does that.

Read more >

Several times throughout the Sandman series, Neil Gaiman took some time off from the main plot (or the closest thing the series ever had to a main plot) to indulge in some stand-alone stories that have little or nothing to do with Dream himself. These stories more often than not highlight how deep and malleable the Sandman universe was from the very start. They're stories about human nature and the consequences of desire, fun vignettes that display Neil Gaiman at his most imaginative and reverential. "Dream Country" highlights four stories from early in the series that alternate between funny, sad and delightfully strange.

Read more >

Today, the British dance pop group Duran Duran is synonymous with the sleek, fashion-obsessed music scene of the 1980's, but the band came very close to falling apart at its most crucial moment. The 1982 album Rio eventually went double platinum by the time it was reissued in America and grabbed the #1 spot in Australia, both major events that wouldn't have been possible without a real eye for innovation.

Read more >

Beans

Tomorrow Right Now

(Warp, 2003)

Anti-Pop Consortium no longer exists and to most that doesn’t mean too much. But in the realm of underground hip-hop it means that there are probably going be a lot of interesting solo projects. Anti-Pop reportedly split up earlier this year and since members have been touring as well as recording. However, the first of these solo albums to appear is that of Beans. Warp, which mostly deals in electronic music, has seen fit to put out Tomorrow Right Now.

After unwrapping the record and being sucked into the austere looking picture of Beans in a pair of sun glasses on the front and a picture of the red stripe posted on the back of his head as well as the back of the album, plop it down in the player and prepare yourself. El-P has been touted as the most innovative beat maker in hip-hop of late, but simply by listening to Tomorrow Right Now it seems that Beans could now be in contention for that title. There are three instrumental tracks (“Sickle Cell Hysteria”, “Rose Periwinkle Plum”, “Xon”) on this offering, all of them differ in length and scope, but all of them are exceedingly electronic. Beans, for the most part, eschews the boom-bap of rap in lieu of pushing into new territory: the further merging of hip-hop and electronic music. There are drum programs, there are steady bass lines, but there are also electronic burps and gurgles, sounds and noises. The record’s rife with too many quality tracks to comment upon individually, but “Crave” easily sums up the album in one line. Beans simply figures that there are “Too many MCs and not enough listeners”. True.

Read more >

The richness of Firefly's story is that just about any one of the characters who make their home on Serenity could carry their own fully realized series. The only real exception would be Kaylee, who is more or less having her first adventure away from home with Mal and his crew. Everyone else is a show unto themselves. If one were to take the story of Simon and River Tam as its own, stand-alone feature, it would still be a compelling tale of a brother and sister braving the unknown and surviving by little more than their love for each other. This is why the little glimpses of that story we get in the handful of Firefly episodes are as interesting as they are. Simon and River, like everyone else on Serenity, are already fleshed-out characters who have a complex story to tell.

Read more >

Justin Bieber Lives!BREAKING NEWS: Justin Bieber is NOT dead. I repeat: Justin Bieber is NOT dead. Do not panic. (Or celebrate too early, whichever the case may be.)

While it’s up to you as individuals to determine for yourselves whether or not the fact that Justin Bieber is still walking the earth is a positive thing or not, t please don’t spread the rumor about his death any further because it would force the bloggers (like me) to continue to waste their time and effort to dispel the rumors.

Here’s what happened:


Read more >

Steve Reich has, for the last five decades or so, been at the forefront of repetitive music.

The composer has never aped an overt rock attitude, nor really moved past the most simply comprised ensembles, frequently using a number of players plying the same instrument. But most of his work tends to voicing these instruments in interesting manners while working to expose the importance of time in his compositions.

To the most passive listeners, each of Reich’s works might wind up sounding like not enough of something and by the end of a sequence, too much of everything. But it’s the composer’s ability to hear, in his mind and then get it down onto paper, the way notes and tones interact with each other.

Read more >